Characterising the sweet corn postharvest supply chain: travel from Senegal to the UK

Abstract

Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) is a grain harvested before maturity and consumed as a vegetable. An optimal supply chain, to preserve sugars and antioxidant (AO) capacity is essential to maintain quality of sweet corn. The choice of packaging film plays an essential role, especially in products with a high respiration rate such as sweet corn. Sweet corn grown on a commercial farm in Senegal was sampled at the harvest day, at the UK arrival date following 12-14 d of shipping (packaging date), at the best before date (BBD) and five days after the best before date. The results showed that high quality preservation of sweet corn is possible along a complex supply chain from harvest in Senegal through transport to the UK. Results suggested that lower perforation films have a beneficial role in preserving antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, damaged kernels in the cut-ends of the cobs were shown to be the main factor reducing the overall quality of the product.